Remote-control plane clubs soar in Chicago area

Passion for flying, fellowship attract hordes of members

August 02, 2012|By Vikki Ortiz Healy, Chicago Tribune reporter

A remote control plane is positioned for takeoff last month at an airfield at Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in Darien. The Woodland Aero Modelers meet three times a week at the public space to fly model aircraft. (Chuck Berman, Chicago Tribune)

Through an unmarked entrance at the end of a winding gravel road, past a locked gate accessible only to people with a special key — that's where you'll find Bill Brzostowski and his pals.

For nearly a decade, Brzostowski and fellow model airplane enthusiasts have met three times a week at a public space in Darien so tucked away that even neighbors don't know about it. With dozens of remote-control airplanes parked in a row, they take turns sending them up while others watch from lawn chairs.

As thousands prepare to attend the annual Chicago Air & Water Show this month on the lakefront, members of the Woodland Aero Modelers say they enjoy their fun on a more regular basis. Their club and others in the area offer year-round access to soaring planes, breathtaking landings and friends who share their passion for flying.

"I don't think there's another field like this," said Brzostowski, 74, a retired equipment operator for American Airlines who first learned of the group nine years ago. "I came to the gate, and I thought, 'What the heck is going on?'"

But while most groups meet at public airfields or on private property, the west suburban Woodland club enjoys a long-standing agreement with the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Members are allowed special access to a space tucked between bike trails and running paths at the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve.

Chris Brooks is spokesman for the Academy of Model Aeronautics, which today counts 2,394 clubs across the United States and 143,000 members.

"We've never been more popular than we have been in the last decade," Brooks said.

Model airplane building and flying became a common pastime in the 1930s, an era when Charles Lindbergh and other aviators captivated young people across the nation with flight. To accommodate the interest, Argonne National Laboratory eventually designated a special space on its property in Darien for employees who wanted to fly remote-control airplanes during work breaks, Brzostowski said.

In the 1970s, Argonne turned 2,000 acres over to the DuPage forest preserve district. Officials included the acre and a half used by the Woodland group on one condition — that the decades-old group be allowed to continue using the space, said Matt Blazek, manager of site operations for the forest preserve district.

Today about 130 members of the club have a key to the padlocked gate. At 9 a.m. each Monday, Wednesday and Friday they enter the secured space, park in a gravel lot and use carts to wheel their airplanes to the flying field.

Most are in their 70s and 80s. Many built and flew planes as young men but took years off to have a family. Several were given remote-control planes by their grown children after retirement.

"These guys are great. There's nothing you can say better about them," said Joseph Urbus, 79, a Burr Ridge resident whose kids gave him a model airplane as a Christmas gift shortly after he retired in 1994. "I wish a lot of older guys would do something like this, just to get out."

Club members take their hobby seriously. After working on the planes all week in their basements, they set them up in the grass using tool kits. They're quick to point out a lagging left wing or sputtering engine.

And when a plane crashes unexpectedly in the field, every member stops what he is doing to walk through the brush and find the downed aircraft.

"It's camaraderie," said John Horwath, 70, a member of the Woodland club since 2000. "We solve the problems of the world here just about every day."

The club is among others in the Chicago area that continue to thrive, even with competition from the iPads and computer games of this generation.

Greg Stevens, president of the Suburban Aero Club of Chicago, said remote-control flying remains so popular in communities near him in Tinley Park that two years ago the Cook County Forest Preserve District gave the group a field. Located in the Tinley Creek Forest Preserve, it includes a paved runway and parking for 50 cars.

Nearly 110 club members drop in as they please.

"A lot of guys come out with an airplane, but they spend three, four hours socializing," Stevens said. "We get together, and it's friendship, really, and bonding."

In St. Charles, the Fox Valley Aero Club claims 225 members, underscoring a popularity that the club's vice president, John Turner, attributes in part to the Internet making it easier to find out how to get involved.

"You put all that time into a plane, you take off, and you fly it around, and you land, it's just extremely self-rewarding," Turner said.

The Woodland group welcomes new members. Anyone interested needs only to join a club and register with the Academy of Model Aeronautics, which provides insurance to members.

It's a process John Baderman, 45, had no trouble navigating shortly after moving with his family from England to Hinsdale.

A former hot air balloon pilot, Baderman longed to be around those who shared his passion for flying. After some quick online searching, he found the Woodland Aero Modelers.

He visits the Darien site several times a week, letting himself onto the field with his key.

"I've really enjoyed it," Baderman said "They've been very welcoming."